cover design

Busting Some ISBN Myths

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Busting Some ISBN Myths * The Novel (and Keep Coming Back) * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “I’ve never experienced writer’s block. That is especially true after discovering WITD. … If you don’t know the path (only the characters do), then it’s impossible for a block to exist. [F]or the writer, the path to be blocked doesn’t even exist. And therein lies the fun.” Dan Baldwin on an article in yesterday’s “Of Interest” “[PG] suggests that anyone designing a book cover needs to understand that good levels of sales … Read more

The Journal: Cover Design and Publishing

In today’s Journal * Topic: Cover Design and Publishing * Of Interest Topic: Cover Design and Publishing A writer emailed to ask about cover design. He’s starting from scratch. As I told him, it’s a massive question with several facets. First, you’ll need cover art. Via Dean Wesley Smith, for fiction it’s better to use illustrations than actual photographs. (Perusing the covers of best-selling novels at Amazon or in other venues bears this out.) You can find and download either kind of image at any of several places. My favorite paid sites are Deposit Photos, CanStock Photos, and BigStock Photos. … Read more

The Journal: Some Cover Design Fundamentals

In today’s Journal * Yesterday * Topic: Some Cover Design Fundamentals * Of Interest * The Numbers Yesterday, which should have been a relaxing day off, was mostly a bust. We went to a couple of estate sales over in Sierra Vista. Neither had much that we were interested in, and the other attendees at one acted as if they’d never been around other humans before. Sheesh. We shopped in the commissary too, and found some of what we needed but not all. And then I chose and ate the wrong thing for lunch, making myself ill. It was just … Read more